The Leviathan Awakens
by Tom Redfield
Summary: <html><head></head>The Doctor lands on a colossal space construct in the future, where a sinister plan is afoot. The course of the Time War is about to change and catastrophe could be spelt for the universe. The Time Lord is intent on stopping matters but has his presence actually ensured the plan's success? Story 3 in the Time War Adventures.</html>
1. Chapter 1

"Hmm... where shall we head to next?" The Doctor stared up at the grand, golden central column of the TARDIS console with an eager smile on his face. He shifted around the dials, knobs, nooks and crannies as he kept the machine stable in its current state of temporal orbit. "Hmm, how about the diamond jungles of Veronicus or the lost temples of the great Azurian empire or... OR..."

"You're speaking to yourself again, Doctor..." Keira Nystrom called out as she entered the room. Her already dark brown hair was darkened even further as she dried her hair with a towel.

"Was I? Hmm... I guess old habits _do_ die hard." The Doctor responded as he looked over to his companion. "You had a dive into the Swimming pool, I see."

Keira walked along towards the library. "The beach, actually." Specks of sand in the hair backed up her words. "I still can't find the swimming pool. I try and I try but I keep finding the strangest stuff behind every door. How did you even get a beach, sky, atmosphere and all into the TARDIS?!"

"A temporal snapshot. It's a long story and not one I particularly want to tell, either..." The Doctor responded, raising more questions than it answered inside Keira's mind. The Time Lord went back to his ways, focusing once more on piloting the TARDIS.

Keira glanced around all the books to be found in the TARDIS library. Books of ancient Earth history... books from well beyond her time... books from alien cultures... books that didn't even seem to be books at all... So much choice. Way too much choice stood before her. Defeated, she sat down and watched the holographic universe above. She noticed something in that moment or perhaps sort of noticed. She wasn't sure. "Doctor?" she asked.

"Hmm?" the Time Lord replied, not bothering to look up.

"Have you noticed something different about the stars?" Keira enquired.

"Can't say that I have." The Doctor dismissively lied. He knew there was something different. A layer of crimson was slowly overcoming the pitch black darkness of space, an after effect of a war being fought across the stars and beyond the stars, a war happening across both normal space time and the void that surrounds it.

With a huh, Keira reclined back as she watched the planets and stars whiz about space as they were outside this very ship. Her mind wondered once more as to where the Doctor would take her next. She hoped not for Earth again. The Doctor's apology trips, while making the planet seem better in her eyes, never truly got the taste of that horrific first visit out of her mouth and mainly served to make slightly weary of the planet. There were other worlds out there to explore. She wanted to see new, wondrous things. She wanted to see things beyond her comprehension and knowledge.

The brunette was then violently thrown out of her thoughts as a sudden, titanic jolt ran all through the TARDIS. Alarmed, she raced up on her feet as she moved as fast as she could toward the TARDIS console, stumbling and clutching to what ever she could on the way. "What's happening?!"

Instinctively, the Doctor reached for the screen and swung it around. He read the information on screen. "It seems we're caught in some kind of Time Tunnel. No. Scratch that. A _web _of time tunnels, stretching out across all of time and space and heading towards one location."

"That one location being?!" Keira asked, her voice and expression irritant.

"I don't know. The co-ordinates suggest somewhere in the dead of space. Time zone... Humanian era... The 61st century." Those last words suggested that the Doctor was working out the information in his head or that the TARDIS was struggling working it out for him.

"My time." Another place in the grand space-time continuum that Keira didn't particularly much like the sound of. Though at least if it wasn't her home space colony or Caelus, she didn't much care. Those were the two places that she most definitely was glad to see the back of.

Another massive jolt forced both TARDIS occupants to crash towards the ground.

* * *

><p>"Rise and Shine!"<p>

A blonde-haired man jolted awake with a pale, sweating face as he was awoken by his alarm. As his surroundings set in, his fear gave in to a tired sigh. Waking up at this hour. It was the daily routine. He didn't know why they had a daily routine but it was the daily routine none the less. The room he was in was bright white. It was bright to the point that, if it wasn't for the silver wardrobe and similarly silver door, one would likely be mistaken for being trapped in an endless white void for the briefest of disorientating moments. Promptly, he dressed in a plain blue jumpsuit (the only clothes that he had), slipped his feet into a pair of black plain trainers (the only pair of shoes that he had) and walked out.

The world outside was a complete contrast to the room before. It was a dark grey corridor, cylindrical in shape. It was crowded with people of all ages, shapes and species walking to and fro. He joined the crowds as he headed towards a small canteen, once again packed with people. The man worried about getting some food and a seat somewhere. The latter worry was quickly relieved as he turned to see a young woman, also blonde, waving at him. He exchanged greetings with the girl as he took the seat opposite.

"So how are you this morning, Jack?" The girl cheerily asked her new visitor.

"Alright, I guess. _You-know-what_ aside. It still amazes me, you know. It amazes me how many have fallen victim to the Great Trickster." The girl told him to hush, as her cheer turned grave. The mere mention of what Jack had just said had chilled her to the bone. "But look, Olivia! Look at how crowded this place is! Look at all the species dotted around here. Terileptils, Chelonians, Silurians... Heck, I think I've even seen a bloody Raxacoroicofallapatorian or two about! Just how powerful is this guy?"

"He managed to burn the skies to a crisp, Jack. He destroyed our home-world. It's a damn miracle that we were all saved just in time. Every night, we all share the same nightmares. We relive the same horrible memories. Part of me wonders if that's the Trickster's grip on all of us. Some perverse mind game that he holds upon us for his own sick, demented pleasure."

Jack slammed his fist into the table, much to the shock to the other people sat on the chair. "I hate him so much. It's getting to the point where all I want in this universe is to see him dead."

Olivia gulped at the rage that Jack was exhibiting. This wasn't the man that she once knew. An audible rumble in his stomach quickly provided her with a topic to lighten the mood. "That anger has made you work up a bit of an appetite, huh?" she lightly teased.

"Oh." Jack looked embarrassed as he noticed the hunger that was now all too present in his stomach. "Heh. I guess you're right."

"Go on. I'll make sure you still have a seat when you get back." Olivia lightly replied as Jack stood up to join the queue. As he moved forwards a couple of places, the whole room became eerily silent as the room promptly darkened and a holographic screen took centre stage of everyone's focus. The noise that they were hearing through it immediately struck a chill down the necks of everyone in the room. They knew that sound from their nightmares. The blue box that faded into existence was another resident of the very thing that made sleeping a horrific reminder of the worst times of their lives. Panic and a stifling feeling that pandemonium was about to burst out with the slightest poke took over the room.

"Do not panic. The situation is under control." A voice spoke out over the tannoy system. It was the voice of the higher ups here, the ones who saved everyone in the first place. As much as it tried to relieve the situation, Jack knew that it was only going to make it worse. He knew that because this only served to _confirm _that what they were seeing was true.

The Trickster was here.

* * *

><p>"HOLD ON!" The Doctor shouted over the roar of the TARDIS struggling within the time tunnel. He leapt around the console, diving over the panel for various knobs and levers. Keira sat slumped with her arms linked through a hole in the massive steel girders that protruded over the central spire. The rumbles grew more and more violent, more and more drastic, more and more frantic until...<p>

They died down instantaneously, accompanied by a light beep indicating that they had landed.

Slowly but surely, Keira stood up with a groan. "Ugh... I feel like I'm going to be sick..." With a slight buck in her balance, she immediately toppled over holding onto the console to prevent hitting the floor once more. "I never want to experience that again." She turned to the Time Lord with a question, as she attempted once more to regain her footing. "Where are we, Doctor?"

"I have no idea. Let's check the scanners." With those words, the Doctor moved the screen back to a position to where both he and Keira could see what lay outside. It was a dark, cylindrical corridor. "It seems like some kind of space ship. Not much more, I can say there." The screen shifted into black as the Doctor flipped a switch. "Life signs... Oh." The Doctor stared as a large white square outline was quickly filled up with white dots.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a lot of them..." Keira said as she looked at the screen with the same shock as the Doctor. The Time Lord switched the screen back as a voice filled the TARDIS.

"Do not panic. The situation is under control."

The voice was metallic, almost mechanical and immediately struck a cold fear into the Doctor's hearts.

"Hang on a minute, I know the sound of that voice from Ancient History classes. 22Nd century Earth, right? The..."

"...Daleks." The Doctor cut in to finish his companion's sentence.


	2. Chapter 2

"We're not staying any longer..." The Doctor immediately took back to the console, preparing to take off.

"What are you doing?" Keira motioned to block the Doctor's path, grabbing his hand as it gripped a lever.

"We're not staying. The Daleks. The great enemy of the Time Lords. The other side of the coin. This is Time War business and that's the exact kind of business that I utterly, utterly refuse to interfere with. They're dangerous. Much more than any history lesson or databank in your BCI could have possibly have taught you. Take the worst creature your imagination can conjure up. The most despicable and -"

"But Doctor..." Keira grabbed the TARDIS screen and pulled it with unexpected difficulty around the spire "If they're so dangerous, then surely we must go out there? Look at all those life-signs. Can you assure me that those are all Daleks? That we're not leaving behind billions of people at the hands of some scheme? Could you really look at me in the eyes and tell me that you would blindly let innocents die for the sake of some pompous, stupid rule you've enforced upon yourself?"

With a look of defeat and a buzz of the Sonic Screwdriver, only an extremely light amount of dimming occured on the screen. Keira leapt over to the hatstand, taking a blood-red leather jacket to wear over a white T-shirt she had found in the TARDIS wardrobe. The curious design of a large eyed, animated female wearing a distinctive, yellow headband upon it had caught her eye as she was picking out what to wear.

"I'm going." she said, defiantly, halfway out of the door. "We're not here to fight the war. We're here for the victims. The bystanders. If you want to waltz off and leave me behind then fine but I am going out there and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

The Doctor rushed up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Keira Nystrom..."

The pause made Keira heart pound as her feeling of time slowed to a standstill. She dreaded the Time Lord's next words as he sighed.

"...I'm not letting you go alone." The Doctor finished as he now reluctantly took his usual place of leading the way out of the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>The canteen remained silent, the tension remaining as extreme as ever.<p>

The door of the blue box opened and out he stepped. The trickster they all knew from their worst nightmares were there on the screen. His attire was different. They knew him to wear a dark purple jacket but it was undeniably him. Silent tension quickly gave in to a chorus of chaos. Some decided to try to find the man. Others wailed in fear. Olivia kept watching as she noticed something on the screen.

"Jack!" she shouted across the noise. It wasn't to much effect. "JACK!"

Jack turned around. "Yeah?"

Olivia pointed to the screen, to the woman trailing behind him. "Isn't that Keira?!"

* * *

><p>"This place seems endless." Keira said, unable to see an end to the corridor before her.<p>

"No discernable change in the design and structure... I underestimated how big this place must be..." the Doctor mused to himself as his gazed wondered all over the room around him.

"Maybe we should try one of the doo-" Keira suggested before being interupted with a quiet hush from the Doctor. He could hear the robotic sounds of a Dalek approaching from out in the distance accompanied by the sounds of footsteps.

"No time like the present. Come on!" He ushered as he jumped to the nearest door. A whirr of the Sonic caused the metal to shoot up, revealing a white control room with a slitted window staring out into the endless wastes of outer space.

"DO NOT LEAVE YOUR DESIGNATED AREA. THE TRICKSTER WILL BE FOUND AND EXTERMINATED. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR DESIGNATED AREA." A Dalek voice resonated through the corridor.

"Trickster?! Does he mean me?" The Doctor asked perplexed as he peered out of the door for a split moment. With most of her strength, Keira pulled him back into the room and shut the door.

Outside, three men rushed past the Dalek. "Where is he?" the largest and most intimidating of them enquired.

"Down there." The Dalek efficiently responded.

"Come on, let's get 'im!" Another man shouted back from a few steps ahead.

They sprinted down the door with great ferocity. Their faces expressed a deep hatred and murderous rage that bordered on inhuman. They were on a mission. They were on a mission to kill the most terrible monster in the universe. The trouble was that they were betting on the wrong person.

"EXTERMINATE!"

All the three men could feel was a light tingle through the back which aggressively mutated into a violent, extraordinary pain of which they had never felt before. Their insides roasted and scrambled as blazing hot energy pierced it's way through their bodies. It played on camera for all to see. The pain, the agony and the sight of three dead men, a light smoke billowing up from their bodies, were etched horrifically into their brains.

From the other side of the door, the Doctor and Keira could only mourn silently as they heard their former pursuers scream in agony. They had little time to dwell.

"We're trapped!" Keira exclaimed, perhaps somewhat obviously.

"Not necessarily..." The Doctor said, his eyes locked onto something curious. He strode towards it. Following the Time Lord's gaze, Keira quickly worked out what it was. A tall, golden and rectangular panel a few dozen centimetres to the left of the window stood as one of the few defining features of the room. A black bump with a curious pattern jutted out from the exact centre.

"A Dalek control panel. If I'm right and when it comes to Dalek technology given my vast amount of past experience, I usually am... This is for a transmat system. Without some kind of other interface to act as a translator, it'll take me some time to get it to work. Add Daleks on our tail and..."

"Doctor..." Keira pointed to her head, indicating the interface inside her head.

"Hmm..." He looked back and squinted for a moment, working things out in his head. "It might work... But are you sure? I don't know what I could be hooking you up to."

"I'm sure. After all, it's this or death, right?" She retorted.

"But that's the thing you see? Hooking up to Dalek systems in this manner. It's uncharted territory. Anything could happen. Anything like befalling a fate worse than death... No. NO. What am I saying? I can't let you go through with this!" The Doctor's voice took an authoritative and sharp tone.

"It's do or die, Doctor and I choose to do." Keira once again to the Doctor's ire took a stance of defiance as she pushed past the Doctor towards the panel.

* * *

><p>"What in the empire is Keira doing with... him?!" Jack had to wonder, his anger evident in the anger of his voice.<p>

Olivia tried to make him pipe down. Making reference to the humanian empire never went down well with certain members of certain races. "Maybe she's been taken prisoner. Maybe she's merely been well... tricked!"

"We have to find them."

"No. You heard what the Daleks said. We have to stay here. If we rush out there, we'll could be dead in an instant. Do you know how to fight something like him?"

With an angry murmur, Jack sat back down defeated. "I'm just scared for Keira... Travelling with the monster who destroyed our home..."

"Maybe she joined him because of that." Olivia remarked, a bitterness in her voice. "You know how eager she was to ditch us all... She hated that place more than anything."

"Don't say that."

It was then that the pair noticed the panic surround them had died down in an instant. The crowd now all seemed to be looking at something. Jack looked over his shoulder. Olivia stood up. Together they noticed the humanoid-shaped rainbows at the centre of the crowd. The bright array of colours soon began to darken as they were replaced by two very familiar sights.

"Here we..." Keira slowed at the sight of the crowd surrounding them. The tension and expressions were chilling her to the bone. "...are."

"It's him! He's here!" a distant voice screamed.

A thunderous uproar kicked off once more. Keira was violently knocked down to the ground as people rushed for the Doctor. She couldn't follow anything that followed. She retreated to a foetal position as people frantically rabbled around her, kicking her.

"Come on!" A hand accompanied the voice to grab Keira's arm, pulling her back onto her feet.

Keira's eyes widened as she recognised the woman before her. "Olivia?!" She turned around to see the Doctor pulled atop a crowd akin to a man caught in a frantic, rapid current. "Doctor! What's happening to the Doctor?!"

"You mean the Trickster?" Olivia replied. "He's getting what's coming to him."

"What?" Anger spewed through Keira's mouth.

Olivia pulled Keira along to the table she was sitting at, pushing her way through the chaotic crowds.

"KEIRA!" Jack leapt up from his seat, embracing his friend.

"What are you guys even doing here?! Where is this?" Keira asked as she took a seat.

"It's a long story. One involving your friend over there..." Jack's tone became more morose as the words went on. "... to put it short. He destroyed our home, Keira. He destroyed the Colony!"

Keira jumped up. "No. No way. I know the Doctor. He wouldn't do that."

"He did, Keira. The Daleks. They showed the truth to us." Olivia said.

"The Daleks?! I thought you were the best in the class at Ancient History, Liv! That was what brought us together in the first place! They invaded Earth back in the 22nd century, remember? Twice! I know the Doctor and I trust him over those stupid metal machines. I heard them kill."

"People change, Keira. You most of all should understand that. The Daleks saved us. The Daleks brought us here. This whole place, an apology for the destruction they have caused. The destruction that they could not escape causing, because of the Trickster. Look around you, Keira. Look at all the races. Look at the people. If the Daleks were what they were before, then why are we all still alive?"

"They..." Keira hesitated, unsure of her next response. "They have something up their sleeves."

"Let me guess? The Trickster... oh no sorry, 'the Doctor', he's who takes you around the universe nowadays, huh? Shows you the sights? Let's you forget about us? Hah. Typical. You've always hated us. You'll never want to listen to the truth if it sends you back to us and to that little hole you've always been so eager to leave in the dust." Olivia spat, unleashing the vitriol that had been building up inside her for far too long.

Keira stood back aghast, hurt by the woman's words. "Liv... I... No. NO. Screw you. Screw both of you. I know the Doctor. I trust him. I've seen him save worlds. I've seen him help the helpless. I've seen him save universes. And don't you dare -"

The holographic screen came back to life, the crowd's reaction to it interrupting Keira. Upon it, a small crowd gathered around a door with the word "AIRLOCK" written clearly for all to see. The Doctor struggled, trapped in their grip atop of them.

"DOCTOR!" Keira screamed, full well knowing where the situation is going. The crowd cheered, celebrating what was going to happen next. The crowd opened the door, threw the Time Lord in, and shut it once.

"The Trickster is going to get what he deserves." one voice shouted.

A Dalek voice filled the room. "Airlock de-pressurizing in 3..."

"2..."

Keira couldn't bear to watch. She turned around, unable to watch out of fear and guilt. What had she lead them into?

"1..."

The airlock opened as a deafening, victorious cry erupted. The Trickster was dead.


End file.
